Indigenous women trained to defend rights against agro-industrial hazards in communities

YAOUNDE- The installation of some agro-industrial companies is said to be causing significant environmental and health hazards in communities around plantations in Cameroon.

These deathtraps have often posed a great danger to their existence and sustenance, experts have said.

It is against this backdrop that close to 30 women drawn from communities near agro-industrial settlements and project zones in Cameroon, have been equipped to defend their rights.

The women’s capacities were built during a two-day workshop organized by a civil society organization known in French as Reseau des Acteurs de Développement Durable, RADD, from June 21 to 22, 2023.

The workshop organized in Yaounde, was also supported by other non-governmental organizations like WoMin African Alliance, and Green Development Advocates, GDA.

According to the organizers, the training was aimed at equipping the participants with information about their rights and laws protecting them, methods, techniques, and strategies to make their struggles more dynamic to achieve positive results.

“The training is to make these women know that they have the right to say no in respect to all the violence they go through from these companies,” RADD’s Executive Secretary, Ngobo Marie Crescense, stated.

She continued: “We have been working for some years now with these women to tell them that the responsibility to defend their interest in the agro-industrial sector is left to them. So they have to mobilize themselves to be able to defend their interest”.

The training was also hoped to promote solidarity amongst the women and create opportunities for them to exchange ideas and become stronger in the face of these economic giants.

Going by one of the workshop facilitators and a member of the GDA, Mba Mbia Danielle, the training was equally geared towards bringing the women together to be able to defend themselves.

“This is because we realized that when an agro-industrial project is put in place, these women are the most affected and they are not able to fight for their rights. This will help them to be able to fight for their rights and even propose what they think will be right for them,” the workshop trainer explained.

At the end of the two-day capacity-building workshop, the community women say they feel fortified and determined to say NO to projects not in their interest and to fight for their rights when they return to their respective villages.